Samuel Cobb

(bap. 17 October 1675 - 18 September 1713)

Works in ECPA

alphabetical listing / listing in source editions

Source editions

  • Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. I. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758]. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.001)

Biographical note

Samuel Cobb, the son of a cooper, was born in London in 1675. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was taught by Richard Bentley. He took the degrees of B.A. in 1698 and M.A. in 1702. Cobb began writing poetry while still a student at Trinity and his most ambitious single poem, Poetae Britannici (1700), celebrates the progress of poetry from Chaucer to Dryden. After graduating from University, Cobb returned to Christ's Hospital, where he was assistant master until his death in 1713. Cobb continued to write and publish poems of a mainly patriotic nature. He is also known for his translation work, particularly from the Latin, of classical, British, and European authors. Cobb also wrote a much reprinted adaptation of Chaucer's Miller's Tale. His poems appeared in several miscellanies published by the bookseller Edmund Curll. In his later life, Cobb suffered from alcohol problems. He died in 1713 and was buried at Christ's Hospital. Cobb's poems were reprinted in poetic miscellanies and anthologies throughout the 18th century.

Bibliography

DMI 1420; ODNB 5732; NCBEL 238, 541

Reference works

  • Baines, Paul, Julian Ferraro, Pat Rogers, eds. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. 68-69. Print.
  • Radcliffe, David H., ed. Samuel Cobb (1675-1713). Spenser and the Tradition: ENGLISH POETRY 1579-1830. Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Tech, 2006. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20170908014740/http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/AuthorRecord.php?recordid=32933.
  • Suarez, Michael F. Cobb, Samuel. A Collection of Poems by Several Hands [1782]. Ed. Robert Dodsley and Michael F. Suarez. Vol. I. London: Routledge/Thoemmes, 1997. 134. Print. 6 volumes.